January 22, 2025 • 62 mins
What drives a successful career transformation from chemical engineering to an acclaimed business owner, author and TEDx speaker? Meet our guest Alicia Butler Pierre, who opens up about the pivotal moments in her life, including her timely move from New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina, and how listening to her inner voice guided her career choices. Join us as we delve into Alicia's story of trusting her gut and the profound impact it had on her personal and professional life.
It's a conversation highlighting the importance of self-worth, intuition, and seizing opportunities. The episode explores overcoming obscurity, the significance of networking, and insights for young professionals.
Here are some focus areas from this chat-
• Alicia's career evolution from engineering to entrepreneurship
• The impact of intuition in career decision-making
• Understanding and combating obscurity and talent suppression
• The role of self-limiting beliefs in career progression
• Recognizing and leveraging opportunities for growth
• The benefits of networking and mentorship in career acceleration
• Strategies for effective relocation to boost career success
• Defining personal success beyond monetary aspects and achieving fulfillment
• Resources for young professionals entering the job market
• Overview of her trademark Kasennu methodology for small businesses
Learn how resilience and authenticity can turn obstacles into stepping stones for success. Through some vibrant storytelling, discover how passion, persistence, and authentic connections lead to fulfillment and a truly successful life.
Start for FREE
Enjoy PIOR Living products
Enjoy PIOR Living products at a 20% discount and free shipping on orders over $75 Code FLF20
OurPlace Cookware
Shop versatile, aesthetic cookware sets/appliances from OurPlace.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Videos on YouTube channel.
Follow host Vai on socials - Instagram , YouTube, LinkedIn for thought leadership content.
Head to my website for enlightening blogs & service offerings.
This podcast comes to you from Listen Ponder Change LLC, founded by Vai Kumar.Every support the show contribution is much appreciated !!
Subscribe https://www.buzzsprout.com/1436179/support and help us amplify our voice and reach!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to Freshly Forever, a podcast that gives
you fascinating insights weekafter week.
Here's your host, vaikumar.
Hey folks, welcome to anotherepisode on podcast Freshly
Forever.
Today we have the pleasure oftalking to Alicia Butler-Pierre.
(00:31):
She is a book author, businessfounder and, most recently,
she's a TEDx speaker as well.
Good morning, alicia.
How's it going over there?
Good?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
morning Vi.
I'm doing very well.
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well, great.
And incidentally, alicia is afamous podcaster as well, so the
Business Infrastructure Podcastand the Scale Tales Podcast.
So it just gives me so much joytalking to a fellow podcaster
as well.
So it just gives me so much joytalking to a fellow podcaster
as well.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely, and I'm excited to be here.
Thank you so much for sharingyour platform with me.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Absolutely.
We are just reaching listenersin over 100 countries in all
continents of the globe, andit's just you know.
I think the power of podcastingis priceless.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Absolutely, and congratulations.
That is quite an accomplishment100 countries.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thank you, thank you, and yeah, I mean, it's just
growing by the day, right?
So we say a number today andthen this afternoon when we go,
look, it'll be something else.
So that's the power of socialmedia and the messaging, and so
all of the benefit.
So that's precisely the reasonyou and I are sitting down
(01:53):
together today, because we aregoing to talk mainly focusing on
your TED Talk, and you havebeautifully brought out a great
message for people in career asto how not to say get stuck, how
not to get stuck.
So why don't we get startedhere by giving listeners an
(02:20):
account of your journey, alicia.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Okay, well, there's different angles that I can use,
but I will start with, sincewe're talking about the TEDx
talk and the fact that it'sabout, as you mentioned, career,
and sometimes you get stuck.
So for me, my career startedout as a chemical engineer.
(02:41):
I was working in differentchemical plants and oil
refineries in Louisiana, whichis where I'm originally from,
and I knew I didn't want tospend the rest of my career
doing that type of work.
So it didn't take me long torealize that.
But I didn't know what I wantedto do and what happened is one
(03:04):
of my jobs.
I used to work at a companycalled Monsanto and, for those
who are into the agriculturalline of work, you've definitely
heard of Monsanto before.
So that was my first job as anengineer out of university, and
I remember, vi, that there wouldbe an accountant who would come
(03:27):
and visit us once a month andshe would bring these really
thick stacks of paper, thesefinancial reports and it was
like she was speaking anotherlanguage things like balance
sheets and debt to equity ratiosand receivables, and I just it
(03:48):
was truly like a foreignlanguage and I realized I did
not understand business.
I knew how to be an engineer.
I didn't understand thebusiness decisions that were
driving the things that I wasbeing asked to do every day,
working as an engineer.
I decided to go back to schoolto pursue my MBA, and I was
(04:11):
working full time during the day, going to school at night, and
I have to be honest with you, itopened up a completely new
world for me.
I no longer saw anything thesame.
Engineering was one thing, butcommerce was something else,
because commerce was all aroundme.
Well, shortly after I completedmy MBA studies, I just had this
(04:39):
intuition, this gut feelingthat I needed to move out of New
Orleans quick, fast and in ahurry.
And I listened to thatintuitive thought and thankfully
, I'm glad that I did, becausethat led to my decision to
relocate to Atlanta.
And here's what's interesting.
I was deciding between New YorkCity and Atlanta.
(05:04):
Oh, you wouldn't want to be inNew York.
Well, here's the thing.
So I went to Tulane Universityfor my MBA.
They have a huge alumni networkin New York City.
It would have been very easyfor me to get a job there.
It would have been very easyfor me to get a job there.
But here's the thing theyactually do an event that they
(05:28):
call the Freeman Days in NewYork.
So the name of their businessschool is the AB Freeman School
of Business, and this FreemanDays in New York is really like
a field trip, an opportunity forMBA students to visit with
(05:49):
other alumni at their respectivecompanies, wherever they were
working.
So it was then that I finallygot a taste of what it would be
like to work and live in NewYork, and I decided that was not
for me.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yeah not everyone's cup of tea, I guess.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, not everyone's cup of tea, I guess you know.
Just seeing how many hourspeople were working and they
still couldn't afford to live inManhattan, that was just.
I couldn't wrap my brain aroundthat Because I was living in
New Orleans and I had my ownhome, I had my own car, and the
thought of leaving all of thatto go live in someone else's
(06:25):
basement Didn't want to do that.
So I instead moved to Atlanta.
But, interestingly, I only knewone person when I moved here
and then, sure enough, sixmonths later, hurricane Katrina
happened in New Orleans.
So it was very good that I,that I did listen to that
intuition and that's somethingthat I want to encourage your
(06:47):
listeners Follow your gutinstinct.
If you have an intuitivethought and it just doesn't
leave, you should explore that,act on it.
And sometimes it might seemreally, really crazy, but you
just never know.
And I think one of the worstthings in life is to live a life
(07:07):
of regret wondering what couldhave happened if only you had
done a certain thing.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Oh yeah, I mean, it's always important to listen to
your inner voice.
Right, there's something that'stelling you.
That's kind of, you know,helping you see a different
perspective.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Absolutely.
And when I arrived, I thought Iwas going to get a job at
Coca-Cola.
You know, you live here in theAtlanta area, also, they're
headquartered here and thatdidn't happen either.
And so after about six I'msorry, 60 days of searching
online for work and this wasright at the point when
(07:50):
everything was shifting toonline.
So you know, I'm old enough toremember literally typing
letters to apply for jobs.
But by 2005, everything wasmoving online, where you fill
out applications online.
And I was filling out all ofthese applications for jobs,
wasn't hearing anything back,and so I decided you know what,
(08:15):
for the amount of time, effortand energy that I'm spending
looking for a job working forsomeone else, I could spend that
same time, effort and energycreating my own business around
my own skill set.
And that's how my companystarted, equilibria, and it has
evolved and shifted over theyears into what it is today.
(08:37):
So, coming up on 20 years in acouple of months, that's great.
That's great.
That's just congratulationsagain.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So that's thank you, this is a great story and I know
our focus is primarily your TEDTalk.
And then you bring outbeautifully in terms of career
trajectory you have talked aboutyour own, you know, listening
to your inner voice and kind ofmoving out of Louisiana After
(09:07):
exploring New York, you decidedAtlanta is better and you came
here In terms of obscurity,talent suppression and dealing
with it.
How would you say one should goabout it, alicia?
I know I mean, yeah, you, likeI said, the TED Talk is
(09:29):
beautiful.
You just bring all that out.
But just that you and I aretalking in person.
Why don't I have you share yourperspective?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Sure.
So I think obscurity is one ofthe greatest threats that we
have when we have these talentsor these ideas and we want to
share it with people, andsometimes it's suppressed.
Oftentimes you may find thatyou have great ideas and people
are constantly suppressing thoseideas, and that suppression can
(10:06):
come in a number of ways.
But I want to first point outthat you know, a lot of times we
think we're good at somethingbut we may not really be that
good at it.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Oh, every day is a learning journey, right.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But, however, the reason why I used the story of
Jimi Hendrix in my TEDx talk isbecause this is a clear example
of someone who had an immenseamount of talent, yet he
suffered with obscurity when hewas performing in the United
States, at least when his careerfirst started.
(10:43):
A lot of times you may besuppressed because of jealousy
or hatred.
People know that you're good atwhat you do and therefore they
want to kind of suppress you,they want to put you down, they
want to put you in thebackground and you remain a best
kept secret, if you will.
Then there are other times whenpeople may actually acknowledge
(11:07):
that you are, my goodness,you're so talented at what you
do.
How do you come up with thesethings?
But yet they won't pay you whatyour talent is actually worth.
And then again there are justall kinds of other factors where
you just keep trying and you'rehitting a brick wall every
(11:29):
single time.
And so that's why I startedthinking about it and I said
well, like Jimi Hendrix,sometimes it requires moving to
a different space and placewhere your talents can be
recognized, and not justrecognized but rewarded
(11:51):
accordingly, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I'm just thinking slightly differently as well,
Just prompts me to ask this as Ijust go over my thoughts Are
self-limiting beliefs in any waycontributing to, say, someone
feeling oh, kind of limitingthemselves and kind of also
(12:18):
feeling is talent suppressionalso arising, perhaps from
self-limiting beliefs?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
also arising perhaps from self-limiting beliefs.
Absolutely Self-limitingbeliefs can start as a result of
constantly being put down,being criticized.
That certainly helps with yourself-limiting beliefs.
And then when you, just youknow, rejection is tough, when
you're constantly being rejected.
And rejection can come inmultiple ways, whether it's a
(12:46):
job application, whether it'syou know, you ask, you do ask
for more money, and that isrejected.
So rejection comes in a varietyof forms and so, again, it can.
It can be very tough to not takethese things personally and to
just conclude well, you knowwhat?
(13:07):
Maybe I'm not that good at it,maybe I don't deserve more,
maybe I should just stay hereand be quiet and just kind of
keep to myself and keep my headdown and continue to suffer and
(13:31):
continue to to suffer.
So so, yes, self-limitingbeliefs are very damaging and
detrimental and and it's allenergy I mean, I don't know if
we can, you know, from ametaphysical perspective, it's,
it's all energy and people.
It's a very dangerous cycle,because you may start off
thinking I'm really good at thisand I know I'm good at it, but
(13:53):
then as people start to, youknow, as you start to deal with
the rejection and thesuppression and constantly being
undervalued, then you start todevelop those self-limiting
beliefs.
Being undervalued, then youstart to develop those
self-limiting beliefs and thenother people start to feed off
of that energy that you'recarrying about yourself and so,
(14:21):
because they sense that you'resuffering from FOMO or you're
suffering from any other form ofself-limiting belief, they just
give you more of what you'restarting to think about yourself
.
So it's a very dangerous viciouscycle and that's why, again,
oftentimes it might mean goingsomewhere different.
Where you're around, differentpeople starting over to get out
(14:43):
of that cycle.
And I understand not everyonecan physically relocate I do
understand that.
But that is the beauty of toolslike Zoom and Microsoft Teams
and Google Meet is that we havethe ability.
Now we have the technologiesthat allow us to put ourselves,
whether remotely or in person,into other places where we can
(15:08):
be around other people.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Exactly.
So how, then, is seeingopportunity important and using
that as a catalyst for growth,because even your case is a
classic example, right?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Because even your case is a classic example.
Right, opportunity isn't alwayspresented in a safe,
predictable package.
So opportunity usually andagain I'll go back to I'll use
Jimi Hendrix as an example.
Think about it.
Here's this person, thisstruggling musician in the US.
(15:48):
Someone sees him perform atthis very tiny venue in New York
City and offers him anopportunity, but he doesn't know
that it's going to be anopportunity that will literally
change the trajectory of hiscareer.
It's just, you know, sometimeswhen your back is against the
wall, you just say, okay, I'malready as low as I can, get
(16:13):
sure I'll go for it.
So he arrives in London,england, with literally 20 cents
a dime in each of his shoes andthe clothes on his back, and
then within a year he's aphenomenon throughout Europe.
For myself, the opportunity tothe opportunity to sometimes you
(16:42):
create your own opportunities.
For me it was okay, thisintuitive thought get out of New
Orleans, you know, get out, andget out as quickly as you can.
And then, once I arrived inAtlanta, I just started meeting
people and different peoplewould tell me about different
things, whether it be certainnetworking groups or certain
professional organizations thatthey thought I should try out.
(17:03):
I remained open-minded, and Ithink that is the key.
People will throw all kinds ofthings at you.
Not everything will turn out tobe an opportunity, but you go
for it anyway.
Try it out, because you neverknow which one of those things
(17:23):
will actually turn into anopportunity that literally could
change everything.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, so true.
I think no one can discount thepossibility of any single
connection or any single meeting, because you never know.
That's why I keep emphasizing,even on this very show, learning
is an everyday journey.
You are going to walk out ofthat meeting learning something
(17:52):
which can trigger even your ownthoughts in a different
direction, steer you and helpyou pivot right, and that can
possibly lead to, I think,whatever else.
I wanted to focus next, whichis career acceleration due to
relocation.
Right, so your journey, andthen the example that you bring
out, jimi Hendrix carrieracceleration due to relocation.
(18:18):
What are the prospects that onecan see?
And then again, when is it aptfor someone to even consider
relocation, kind of like thematrix that you bring out.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yes, well, I will certainly say there are things
that could influence whether ornot you just pack up everything
and leave.
Obviously, your age, you know,I was 29, 28, 29 when I made
that decision, so I was a lotyounger and it was easier,
(18:55):
frankly, for me to just kind ofpick up and leave.
But I am mindful of the factthat people have other
responsibilities as well.
You might have your family, youknow, you might have children,
you might have a spouse, so itmay not be that easy to just
leave behind your life ofcomfort and venture into the
(19:16):
unknown.
What I recommend for people nowand this is what I do myself as
well leverage these socialnetworks.
Start joining groups.
I'm not on Facebook, but I amvery active on LinkedIn.
That's how you and I met onLinkedIn.
(19:40):
That's how you and I met.
And if there is a particularcity, if there is a particular
state or a province, if there'sanother country that you keep
reading and hearing about thatparticular place, if you aren't
able to visit that place, startconnecting with people who are
already there and be genuineabout it and say listen, I keep
(20:01):
hearing about Toronto, canada,and I'm hearing all of these
great things about it.
I've been doing my own researchonline.
I've watched videos on YouTubeabout other expats who have
relocated to Toronto and now Iwant to connect be very
intentional about connectingwith other people who are also
(20:25):
in that area.
Would you mind having a Zoomcall with me where I can just
ask you about what it's like todo business there, or what is it
like as a software developer tomove to Toronto?
What is it like to be, you know, a nurse?
Whatever?
Whatever your profession oryour career is, connect with
people first.
Then maybe, if you, if, if yourbudget allows for it, you can
(20:51):
actually arrange to travel tothat place and really get a
sense of what would it be liketo move here, what are the job
prospects?
Could my career flourish here?
And then it's ultimately yourdecision as to whether or not
you decide to physicallyrelocate.
(21:12):
But again, I want to stress toeveryone who's listening to us
or watching us right now we havethe beauty of being able to use
these digital technologieswhere we, you can still.
I can still stay in Atlanta andI can literally network with
people around the world.
The only barrier are our timezone differences.
(21:35):
Sometimes, you know when I'mtalking to people who are in
Singapore or Australia, I haveto be up very, very early in the
morning or really really lateat night, but if you want, the
question we all have to askourselves is how badly do we
want this?
Now, there's one other thing Ishould point out.
(21:58):
There is something to be saidabout in-person, face-to-face
interactions.
I've met so many people justthrough my podcast as you have
as well, vi.
You have listeners in over 100countries.
We meet people from literallyall over the world, and there
are people that I make some ofmy guests, that I've made
(22:19):
fantastic connections with, butit wasn't until I was able to
actually visit with them inperson in some of these
different countries that thingsreally took off, and they took
off very quickly.
So please don't underestimatethe power of connecting in
person.
(22:39):
It is very important.
Nothing beats face-to-faceinteraction.
However, if your finances, yourbudget, just simply don't allow
for that right now, just takecomfort in knowing you still can
develop very good relationshipsworking relationships remotely.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Oh, yes, absolutely.
I think we all have to startsomewhere, and you have given
listeners a great starting point.
So what, then, are the keyattributes?
Or rather, what are theattributes in terms of being
able to identify that hey, okay,this could be my career path.
(23:22):
We talked about opportunity,and then we also need some
advocates, some resources andall of that right.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Absolutely.
I think of it as a formula.
And you're right First you haveto have the talent, you have to
have a talent.
So this isn't necessarily aboutjust immigrating to another
country for the sake ofimmigrating.
That's not what we're talkingabout resources and the
opportunity and the advocates totake that, to go from idea to
actual implementation, and thenyou might just have, you know,
(24:03):
that pure raw talent.
You're just really good at whatyou do, whether you're an
artist of some sort or, again, asoftware developer or a
business coach, whatever it is.
Whatever your talent is in, youshould have an advocate.
(24:24):
How do you find that advocate?
An advocate can come in anumber of ways, a number of
unexpected ways.
I'm going to share my mentor, astory about my mentor and how
we met.
Her name is Essie Escobedo andshe recently sold her business.
She's now officially retiredand Essie and I met about two.
(24:50):
I think I was here in Atlantafor two years, so I was still
very new to the city.
I was a part of a networkinggroup that was called Power
Corps and we would meet once aweek from seven.
We would meet really early inthe morning, from 7am to 830.
And there was a lady that was apart of my networking group at
(25:14):
that time and she told me thatshe wanted to introduce me to
one of her business colleagues.
I said, okay, sure, again, justbeing open, keeping an open
mind, being open to meeting anyand everyone because I'm still
so new to the city.
Well, that person that shewanted me to meet was Essie, and
(25:36):
I'll never forget it.
We met at a restaurant for lunchand Essie just took a liking to
me.
She really took me under herwing.
She started to mentor me.
I didn't ask her.
She saw something in me that,truthfully, I didn't even see in
(25:57):
myself.
Who would have thought thatthis random lunch meeting would
have evolved into what has nowturned into gosh, like an
18-year friendship?
I call her my fairy godmother.
I call her my fairy godmother.
Rightfully so.
(26:17):
Yes, once she started spendingmore time around me and asking
me questions and learning moreabout what I could do, she
started to tell as many peopleas she could and I never asked
her to so she was and is a trueadvocate.
(26:40):
This is someone where you don'thave to beg them to help you.
They already see it in you.
They already see your raw,untapped talent, and that
advocate may very well also beplugged into the resources that
are required to take your talentfrom obscurity to the world,
(27:04):
knowing who you are.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Well, that's powerful .
That's powerful.
I was actually going to addeven earlier, when you mentioned
set up Zoom calls, you know,even if the location is not
reachable, just so, and requestthat hey, I would like to know
more information, and so on andso forth, I was definitely going
(27:27):
to say, yeah, that could verywell turn into a mentor for you.
So what starts as a regularconnection could end up being
much more than that, right?
Speaker 2 (27:39):
So I have another story, if I may just share this
really quickly.
So I have been teaching a LeanSix Sigma course at Purdue
University going up into myfourth year now.
I'm going up into my fourthyear now and, by the way, that
(28:13):
opportunity came when I wastaking my studies to become
certified as a Lean Six SigmaBlack Belt one of my instructors
.
He was a phenomenal instructor.
He is a phenomenal instructorand he would always make himself
available to his students bysaying and keep in mind, this
was completely remote, 100%remote online learning and he
would often offer to us, asstudents, the opportunity to get
(28:35):
on a phone call with him totalk through if we were having
difficulty with a particulartopic or we just needed to
brainstorm on some things, youknow, for a particular
assignment.
Well, john and I remained intouch even after I had taken my
course, about 10 years later.
(28:57):
Keep this in mind.
10 years later, john contactedme and he said Alicia Purdue is
looking for another Lean SixSigma instructor.
Are you interested?
Because if you say yes, all youhave to do is say yes.
(29:17):
I've already told them aboutyou.
Here's another advocate whopresented an opportunity and the
resources.
Everything was already lined up.
All I had to do was say yes.
I didn't have to sell myself tothese folks.
I didn't have to tell themabout my credentials.
He had already advocated for me.
(29:40):
It was literally a matter of usgetting on a Zoom call and them
asking are you interested?
And I said yes.
I would have never imagined thatI would become an instructor,
but now here I am and Iabsolutely love it.
And that would never havehappened had I not maintained
(30:02):
that relationship with him,constantly letting him know what
I was working on.
He's watching everything I'mdoing and you know what's funny?
Vi, john and I, it's been now12 or 13 years that we've known
each other.
We still have never met inperson.
He lives in California, I'm inGeorgia.
(30:23):
Wow, we have never met.
We have never met.
So it is possible.
Everyone.
I'm telling you the other greatthing about social media
whichever platform you usewhether it's TikTok, facebook,
(30:43):
instagram, linkedin showcaseyour work, showcase your talent
so that people can see you andthey're watching you.
You never know who is watchingyou, who's listening to you on
your podcast or on YouTube, andwhen that moment comes, you
(31:06):
might have advocates out therethat you don't even know exist,
but when they hear about anopportunity, that advocate will
show up in your life and say Vi,I know you don't know me, but
I've been watching you for thepast five years on YouTube and I
(31:27):
think this would be a greatopportunity for you.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That's how it happens Right, there are the outcomes
right the reward, therecognition and the respect.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Absolutely, yeah, and it's tough to keep going when
you aren't sure that people areeven paying attention.
Is anybody listening?
Does anybody see me?
Because, again, you're inobscurity, right, and so that's
(32:00):
that's why these differentsocial platforms that's how it
can be used for good is to toshow what you can do and how it
is of value.
It's of value to someone outthere.
You just have to keep showingup.
But as long as we allow thoseself-limiting beliefs that you
were talking about earlier, aslong as we allow those
(32:23):
self-limiting beliefs to to grip, to have a grip on us, no one
will know about us.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah, so we have to show up as well, and being
authentic is important right.
Show up authentically.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
People will, especially with the
proliferation of AI.
You must have your own voice.
I think people like us, whohave original thought, original
ideas, original, creative waysof doing our work, we are going
(33:01):
to become a rare.
We're going to become like arare, precious gem, because more
and more people are relying onAI and you can tell when they're
using it.
You can tell it's not their ownvoice, it's not their own words
and they may have anopportunity presented to them
and then they can't performbecause they've been relying on
(33:24):
machinery to do things for them,to think things for them.
Have original thought.
Don't be afraid to be creative.
Use AI as an assistant, butdon't use it to replace your
voice.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Yeah, yeah, couldn't have said that any better in
terms of showing upauthentically.
And it's also important not toget lost in the process, right?
You just cannot think, oh, mycareer trajectory is not good, I
just want to go upwards, andupwards, and upwards, and so
maybe I'll pick up and move.
(34:02):
That's just not the solution.
That's not what we are talkingabout.
Right?
You need some parameters First.
You need some talent.
And when we say talent, we arenot saying, oh, you just have to
be outrageously special, youjust have to have some
experience, you have to havesome backing to qualify what you
(34:27):
can do or demonstrate what youcan do, right?
So how do you think typicallypeople get lost in the process
and how can someone just makesure that they kind of foolproof
that situation?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
I don't know if it can be foolproofed 100 percent,
but Sometimes this is going tosound really odd, but it's the
truth.
It's what I've found to be true.
Whenever you are getting closerand closer to a breakthrough,
(35:08):
don't be surprised if bad thingsstart happening.
Different challenges, differentobstacles it's merely a test.
It's a test to understand howbadly do you want this?
Because if you want it badly,anything worth having is worth
(35:30):
fighting for.
It is worth fighting for and ifyou can get onto the other side
of that, I guarantee you itwould have all been worth it.
I'll share another example, justgiving a TEDx talk.
This is something I've wantedto do and I have pursued
(35:52):
actively for five years by over150 rejected applications.
So we were talking aboutrejections, right?
I came close to being on thestage twice during COVID Twice.
Both times the event organizerscanceled the event.
(36:15):
The first time it was canceledtwo weeks before the event was
supposed to take place and thesecond time it was canceled two
months before the event wassupposed to take place.
Now, I don't know if peoplelistening to this realize it,
but there is a lot of work thatgoes into preparing for your
TEDx talk.
(36:35):
There were multiple rehearsals.
We're practicing every singleSaturday on a Zoom call.
We're getting together andpracticing and then to hear all
of a sudden that it's justcanceled.
That's hard, it's heartbreaking.
Oh, of course, of course, yes.
So I got very, very, verydiscouraged and I spent 2023, I
(37:04):
just said I don't want to lookat, I don't even want to hear
the word Ted, I'm over this,it's not supposed to happen.
And then, at the beginning of oftwenty twenty four, I said you
know what?
I need to change my perspective.
I need to think about thisdifferently.
There's, I suspect, thatBecause I have three, I have, I
(37:32):
have three different ideas thatI was shopping around and I told
my assistant.
I said wouldn't it be funnythat the one that I'm referring
to as the Jimmy effect, thepositive effects of relocation
on your career wouldn't it befunny if I actually ended up
(37:54):
giving that talk outside of theUS?
We started shopping that ideaaround to different TEDx
franchises throughout the US,kept getting rejected, rejected,
rejected, rejected.
I finally told my assistantthis was last.
This was in April, I'm sorry,may of 2024.
(38:16):
I said okay, we need to gooutside of the US.
Let's start applying outside ofthe US.
Vi, I kid you, not within 48hours.
I was accepted in Helsinki,finland of all places, to talk
(38:37):
about the Jimmy effect.
And it was just.
We laughed, my assistant and I.
We laugh about this all thetime because five years.
And then I finally said let'stry something different, let's
(39:00):
go outside of the U?
S?
And, sure enough, the idea waspicked up right away.
So, um and so, getting back tothe question about it being
foolproof, the bad, theobstacles I don't want to say
the bad things, the obstaclesand the challenges will happen.
(39:24):
Something else that happenedright before the TEDx event
happened, which was in October2024, was the date, the day that
the that I was able to deliverthis talk.
I was a victim of a major bankscam that completely depleted my
business's bank account and thebank did not want to give me my
(39:47):
money back.
So I had all I had a lot ofobstacles going on in the
background, that's not an easysituation.
Leading up to giving this talk.
But I still got on the stage, Istill flew across the Atlantic
Ocean to deliver that talk andthen, when I came back to the US
(40:09):
, I was finally able to resolvethat issue.
So I just want to encouragethose who are listening to me,
because I don't want to tellthis story and make it all seem
like, oh, everything justhappened and it was lovely, and
my life completely changed andit was great and I met all the
(40:30):
people that I needed to meet andthey helped me and they no, no,
no, no, no.
There were a lot of obstacles.
In fact, when I the day that Imoved from New Orleans to
Atlanta, I was served papers.
I was being sued by a tenant Iused to rent out part of my home
and the former tenant I wasserved papers, I was sued and I
(40:55):
had to come back to New Orleansabout two months after I moved
to appear in court and the casewas dismissed because it was
bogus.
But that happened Literally.
We were loading up the truckand I was served with papers.
We were loading up the truckand I was served with papers.
(41:19):
So, again, some people, if thathappened to them, they would
have been like oh my God, see,this is a sign that I should not
, I need to stay here, I need tostay in my little box.
This is a sign.
But see, I interpreted theopposite way, like, no, this is
resistance and I'm going to pushthrough this because resistance
builds muscle.
Okay, you don't get to have big, bulky muscles without
(41:44):
resisting against weight.
So, metaphorically, the samehappens for us in life.
It's not a bed of roses.
It's not always a straight,narrow path.
We can plan all day, every day,and it means nothing.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
So we talk about critiques, who can remain your
roadblock.
There can be resistance inother forms, like you mentioned,
but once you have the talent,basically the experience, you
just need to explore, bring upyour authentic self.
So there is people noticing.
(42:28):
There are people noticing allthe time, and so showing up
authentically leads to someoneeven advocating, just like you
said, and that brings moreopportunity knocking on your
door.
And definitely, withopportunity and all the
resources that you can tap intoto just execute that
(42:48):
successfully, comes reward andrecognition and the result that
you are hoping for couldn't havebrought out any better.
That's just beautiful.
And what about the sciencebehind increased self-worth and
the positive impact that it canhave on one's well-being?
(43:08):
Mental health is such a hugeparameter these days and
everyone is like super stressedat work and whatnot.
So the science behind increasedself-worth, alicia.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Yes, there have been scientific studies and you know,
keep in mind, I'm by no means aneuroscientist, but I have read
several studies that talk aboutthe positive effects of
relocation and, honestly, vi itcould be something as simple as
taking a walk in the park, goingsomewhere different, having a
(43:46):
change of scenery, a change inenvironment.
How many times have you beenstuck trying to think of a
solution or figure your way outof something, whether it's the
problem you're trying to solvein your business, in your career
, at work, personally, and ifyou just go to a park and you
(44:08):
walk around and you're outside,you're in nature, and you walk
around a little bit and you feelrefreshed and all of a sudden
the answer may come to you, butas long as you're in it, in that
same environment, you're stuck.
So there are all kinds ofneuroscience studies that have
(44:33):
explored not only whatrelocation can do for you, the
positive effects, because therecan be some negative effects of
relocation, especially if yourelocate against your will.
But if you are willinglyrelocating, there are amiss
benefits, because you have thebenefit not only of exploring a
(44:53):
new environment.
It's like discovering newthings, the joy that comes with
exploring new neighborhoods,exploring new places to eat, new
places to drink coffee or tea,new places to meet friends,
potential new friends.
(45:16):
So all of those feelings canwork to your benefit, so that it
serves as positiveenvironmental stimuli if you are
away from friends and family,because, as much as your friends
(45:40):
and family may love you, theyalso may be trying to keep you
close because they're fearfulfor you.
They love you, but they arefearful that you won't be able
to succeed and they want to keepyou where you are.
When you are away from friendsand family, you have no choice
(46:01):
but to rely on yourself, on yourtalent, and again, you don't
have the distractions that alsocan come along with certain
friends and family members aswell.
So I'm not advocating that youshouldn't be around your family.
I want to be very clear aboutthat.
(46:21):
But these are some of thereasons why people are sometimes
able to have their careersaccelerate when they move away
from familiar surroundings andfamiliar situations.
It's because they realize Ihave no one to depend on or no
(46:42):
one to rely on but myself, and Idon't have certain distractions
either, so I can really focuson honing my talent and getting
it out there for others to seeand experience.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
And you're kind of getting out of your comfort zone
, right?
You know, moving to a new place, you're trying to get
comfortable doing theuncomfortable.
I always, you know, love sayingthat as well, and it's a
personal mantra for me too.
How else does success look likefrom relocation?
(47:16):
You kind of gave us a fewpointers here, but overall, how
can success look like fromrelocation?
Speaker 2 (47:25):
So I'll give a more general, my general view on
success.
I view success as being able towake up every day doing work
that you love on your terms andyou're able to financially
sustain yourself.
For me it's not about anumerical figure oh, if I make
(47:52):
$3.5 million every year, that'ssuccess for me.
But success looks different forall of us.
For me it's I am blessed to beable to do work that I truly
love, where I am adding value toother people and their
businesses, creatingopportunities for others, and I
(48:17):
can go to bed at night with aclear conscious knowing that I
did the absolute best that Icould do given a certain
situation.
That is success to me and itjust keeps you know you pay it
forward and it just keeps youknow you pay it forward.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
So, yes, and relocation can very much be a
part of that, to kind of triggerthat success happening in your
life.
Yeah, that's again.
You know.
Your definition of successcertainly resonates a lot with
me.
I truly believe that one shouldpursue their passion, and as
long as, yes, we all need to putbread and butter on the table,
so we just need to sustainourselves in terms of being able
(49:09):
to eat and fund ourselvesfinancially.
But to the extent that we areable to meet our goals and and
be self-sufficient, and I thinksuccess definitely comes from
truly nurturing your passion,and and seeing that you can put
(49:29):
a smile on somebody else's faceby helping them out is, I think,
it's much more of asatisfaction and I think that
truly defines what success means, right?
Because as long as you can tapinto your creativity, use your
determination and show upauthentically, I think there's
(49:53):
there's just no better feelingthan that.
That's just me.
What do you think, alicia?
Speaker 2 (49:58):
I agree with you.
I look at some people whoothers may say, yes, they're
successful, again based on theamount of money that they make,
the type of house that they livein, the type of car that they
drive, and a lot of those peopleare miserable that they drive,
and a lot of those people aremiserable, they're miserable.
(50:18):
There are people who work longhours because they have to, and
they're miserable.
Then there are those of us whoare working long hours but it
doesn't even feel like it's alot of hours because we're truly
doing what we love.
It doesn't even really feellike work.
(50:42):
In the building where my officeis, one of my office mates
called me this morning and hesaid it's dark outside.
I can see the light on in youroffice because there's glass
everywhere, as you can see herebehind me.
But it was funny because he wasdriving past the building and
he called me and he said it'sseven o'clock in the morning.
(51:06):
What are you doing over there?
It's still dark outside and Iwas like, hey, man, the early
bird gets the worm right, but itdoesn't feel like it, doesn't?
People often talk about thehours that I work, but it truly
doesn't feel like work because Ican just be doing something and
(51:28):
before I know it's five hours,five hours have passed.
But I'm doing it out of thepassion that you were just
talking about and the the, thejoy that comes as a result of
being able to work, and I I dorecognize the blessing in being
(51:48):
able to do work that you love onyour terms, because so many
people, there's so many peoplewho can't say that.
So I I recognize how fortunateI am and I absolutely do not
take that for granted at allmm-hmm and just um.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
A note for the benefit of Janseys who are just
in their initial stages incareer or who are just about
embarking on their careertrajectory.
We have kind of talked aboutpeople in careers if they are
stuck as to what measures theycan take and so on and so forth.
(52:33):
But what about any other tools,resources, any other tips that
you would offer Alicia, in termsof people that are just getting
started with?
Speaker 2 (52:47):
their career?
And thank you for this questionbecause I'm troubled by and not
to paint a group with a broadstroke.
I don't want to do thatregarding the Gen Z population,
(53:23):
because there's a certainsensitivity that many of them
have that makes them unable todeal with adversity, to deal
with the extreme rejection.
You know they've grown up in aculture where everyone receives
a trophy, but you and I didn'tgrow up in a culture like that,
(53:44):
and so my heart goes out to thembecause when rejection comes,
it can sting in a very damagingway for them, like oh, you
didn't place.
You didn't win first, second orthird place at the science fair
.
You know you didn't place atall.
(54:08):
I highly recommend watchingdocumentaries.
I'm not going to suggestreading books, because I know so
many people don't read booksnow, especially that generation
but watch documentaries ofpeople that you admire, whether
they are musicians, businesspeople, people in your community
(54:30):
, if they're famous enough.
People in your community, ifthey're famous enough and
there's something that you canwatch.
Go onto YouTube, search forthese people and type the word
documentary.
After you type in their name.
I guarantee you this is whatyou're going to find.
You're going to find stories oftragedy as well as the triumph,
(54:53):
you're going to hear theobstacles, the challenges, the
turmoil that people had to gothrough in order to get to where
they are today, whatever theircareer might be in.
I personally love reading andhearing about and learning about
(55:14):
the stories of other successfulentrepreneurs, business people.
I often look at all titans ofany industry, whether it be
fashion or food or media science.
I just love learning about thejourneys of other people and I
(55:39):
guarantee you, not once have Iread the story of anyone who has
had a path that has beenstraight and narrow and just
full of joy and lollipops andrainbows and teddy bears along
the way.
That's just not how life works.
So I think if Gen Z can learnfrom the stories of people that
(56:04):
they already admire, it's goingto help them put their own lives
and situations they may begoing through into better
perspective.
Speaker 1 (56:33):
Oh, yeah, I strongly believe.
Yeah, it kind of help them seewhat we all have experienced in
terms of just a casual sharingof life incidents and stories in
a just a casual conversationand very friendly way.
(56:56):
That will help them becausethey are willing to listen.
I definitely find that they arewilling to listen.
It's not that they want to beon social media 100% of the time
.
They do want conversation.
I think it's also up to therest of us to be able to engage
(57:18):
them in a way that they want tosee themselves engaged.
I think they want to be seen,heard, and if we give them an
opportunity to do that, I thinkdefinitely we can achieve common
medium in terms of okay, withthem being able to listen to us
more.
So I think they just expect usto meet them at a certain place
(57:39):
and if we are able to, I thinkthere's room for a lot more
productive conversations and alot more productivity.
I don't think I can finish thisconversation without talking
about the fast growthpredicament.
That's the reason your bookcame out and the name of the
(58:00):
book.
Let me just have you talk aboutthat and the Casano methodology
and its impact on smallbusinesses.
So, behind the facade how tostructure company operations for
sustainable success.
That's just again like anAmazon bestseller.
So the forum is yours, alicia.
Speaker 2 (58:19):
Oh, thank you.
Thank you so much formentioning the book, and it's
funny because I'm activelyworking with someone now to
rebrand the book, and part ofthat is changing the title so
that it's easier to find for thepeople who are looking for
those types of solutions.
(58:40):
But just quickly, it is a bookbased on a framework that I've
developed over years of workingwith so many entrepreneurs in
different industries, and theframework, as you mentioned, is
called Ka-Sinu and, just alittle fun fact here, I'm a
student of ancient civilizations.
(59:01):
That is something that I'mpassionate about, and so ancient
Egypt is one of thosecivilizations that I have
studied quite a bit about.
So Ka is an ancient Egyptianword that means spirit, and then
sinu is an ancient Egyptianword that means like twin or
clone or similar.
(59:24):
So the idea is to figure outwhat is it that makes your
business so special, what is itthat core talent again, that
you've built your businessaround, and how do we replicate
the spirit or the essence ofthat?
So that's why I refer to it asthe Casino framework, or
(59:44):
methodology, and the book that Iwrote is teaching this
methodology, but it's doing itin the form of stories.
So these are six differentstories that chronicle the lives
of entrepreneurs who run allkinds of different types of
businesses.
One is a non-profit, one is afood distribution company,
(01:00:08):
another is a furniture store.
So there's a little bit ofsomething in there for any
business owner.
But the idea was to not teachthe information in a dry, boring
fashion, but to teach it in theform of storytelling.
So that's what the book isabout, and again, it's really
(01:00:31):
it's part textbook, part novel,if you will.
So it's a more entertaining wayof delivering information about
how to truly build businessinfrastructure in your
organization.
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Well, awesome, a fascinating conversation.
I think we took listeners fromhow you know they can identify
their talent with someexperience that they have, how
best they can leverage, seeingopportunity that lies ahead of
them, make use of the mentorsand the resources all the tools
(01:01:09):
that that that's you knowavailable in plenty these days,
building a network so much moreand ultimately getting paid
their worth or getting rewarded,recognized, respected for what
they do.
We also delve deep into whattruly success looks like and how
(01:01:30):
to nurture creativity anddetermination.
Such a fascinating conversationand I'm really thrilled to have
sat down and had this chat withyou, alicia.
If there's anything else thatyou would like to add, your
social media, any contactinformation, the forum is yours.
Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
Oh, thank you.
I again.
I'm very active on LinkedIn, soI encourage anyone who's
listening.
If you'd love, if you'd like tostay connected, I am accessible
.
I would love to connect withyou.
Please send me a direct messageOnce we do connect on LinkedIn.
You can find me at AliciaButler Pierre.
(01:02:10):
I also have a website by thesame name, aliciabutlerpierrecom
, and then there's my company'swebsite, which is eqbsystemscom.
Awesome, Thank you, Awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Listeners as always.
Follow the podcast.
Read the podcast.
Leave a review from yourpodcast app of choice podcast.
Leave a review from yourpodcast app of choice.
Follow me on Instagram andYouTube.
In fact, this video and so manyother podcast videos are
available on the YouTube channelat vaipkumar, that's
(01:02:47):
V-A-I-P-K-U-M-A-R, and you canfind me on Substack as well,
where I post articles and somuch more.
Until next time with yetanother interesting guest and
yet another interesting topic.
It's me, vai and Alicia, sayingso long.
Thank you.
Welcome to Freshly Forever, a podcast that gives
you fascinating insights weekafter week.
Here's your host, vaikumar.
Hey folks, welcome to anotherepisode on podcast Freshly
Forever.
Today we have the pleasure oftalking to Alicia Butler-Pierre.
(00:31):
She is a book author, businessfounder and, most recently,
she's a TEDx speaker as well.
Good morning, alicia.
How's it going over there?
Good?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
morning Vi.
I'm doing very well.
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well, great.
And incidentally, alicia is afamous podcaster as well, so the
Business Infrastructure Podcastand the Scale Tales Podcast.
So it just gives me so much joytalking to a fellow podcaster
as well.
So it just gives me so much joytalking to a fellow podcaster
as well.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely, and I'm excited to be here.
Thank you so much for sharingyour platform with me.
I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Absolutely.
We are just reaching listenersin over 100 countries in all
continents of the globe, andit's just you know.
I think the power of podcastingis priceless.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Absolutely, and congratulations.
That is quite an accomplishment100 countries.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Thank you, thank you, and yeah, I mean, it's just
growing by the day, right?
So we say a number today andthen this afternoon when we go,
look, it'll be something else.
So that's the power of socialmedia and the messaging, and so
all of the benefit.
So that's precisely the reasonyou and I are sitting down
(01:53):
together today, because we aregoing to talk mainly focusing on
your TED Talk, and you havebeautifully brought out a great
message for people in career asto how not to say get stuck, how
not to get stuck.
So why don't we get startedhere by giving listeners an
(02:20):
account of your journey, alicia.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Okay, well, there's different angles that I can use,
but I will start with, sincewe're talking about the TEDx
talk and the fact that it'sabout, as you mentioned, career,
and sometimes you get stuck.
So for me, my career startedout as a chemical engineer.
(02:41):
I was working in differentchemical plants and oil
refineries in Louisiana, whichis where I'm originally from,
and I knew I didn't want tospend the rest of my career
doing that type of work.
So it didn't take me long torealize that.
But I didn't know what I wantedto do and what happened is one
(03:04):
of my jobs.
I used to work at a companycalled Monsanto and, for those
who are into the agriculturalline of work, you've definitely
heard of Monsanto before.
So that was my first job as anengineer out of university, and
I remember, vi, that there wouldbe an accountant who would come
(03:27):
and visit us once a month andshe would bring these really
thick stacks of paper, thesefinancial reports and it was
like she was speaking anotherlanguage things like balance
sheets and debt to equity ratiosand receivables, and I just it
(03:48):
was truly like a foreignlanguage and I realized I did
not understand business.
I knew how to be an engineer.
I didn't understand thebusiness decisions that were
driving the things that I wasbeing asked to do every day,
working as an engineer.
I decided to go back to schoolto pursue my MBA, and I was
(04:11):
working full time during the day, going to school at night, and
I have to be honest with you, itopened up a completely new
world for me.
I no longer saw anything thesame.
Engineering was one thing, butcommerce was something else,
because commerce was all aroundme.
Well, shortly after I completedmy MBA studies, I just had this
(04:39):
intuition, this gut feelingthat I needed to move out of New
Orleans quick, fast and in ahurry.
And I listened to thatintuitive thought and thankfully
, I'm glad that I did, becausethat led to my decision to
relocate to Atlanta.
And here's what's interesting.
I was deciding between New YorkCity and Atlanta.
(05:04):
Oh, you wouldn't want to be inNew York.
Well, here's the thing.
So I went to Tulane Universityfor my MBA.
They have a huge alumni networkin New York City.
It would have been very easyfor me to get a job there.
It would have been very easyfor me to get a job there.
But here's the thing theyactually do an event that they
(05:28):
call the Freeman Days in NewYork.
So the name of their businessschool is the AB Freeman School
of Business, and this FreemanDays in New York is really like
a field trip, an opportunity forMBA students to visit with
(05:49):
other alumni at their respectivecompanies, wherever they were
working.
So it was then that I finallygot a taste of what it would be
like to work and live in NewYork, and I decided that was not
for me.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Yeah not everyone's cup of tea, I guess.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Yeah, not everyone's cup of tea, I guess you know.
Just seeing how many hourspeople were working and they
still couldn't afford to live inManhattan, that was just.
I couldn't wrap my brain aroundthat Because I was living in
New Orleans and I had my ownhome, I had my own car, and the
thought of leaving all of thatto go live in someone else's
(06:25):
basement Didn't want to do that.
So I instead moved to Atlanta.
But, interestingly, I only knewone person when I moved here
and then, sure enough, sixmonths later, hurricane Katrina
happened in New Orleans.
So it was very good that I,that I did listen to that
intuition and that's somethingthat I want to encourage your
(06:47):
listeners Follow your gutinstinct.
If you have an intuitivethought and it just doesn't
leave, you should explore that,act on it.
And sometimes it might seemreally, really crazy, but you
just never know.
And I think one of the worstthings in life is to live a life
(07:07):
of regret wondering what couldhave happened if only you had
done a certain thing.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Oh yeah, I mean, it's always important to listen to
your inner voice.
Right, there's something that'stelling you.
That's kind of, you know,helping you see a different
perspective.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Absolutely.
And when I arrived, I thought Iwas going to get a job at
Coca-Cola.
You know, you live here in theAtlanta area, also, they're
headquartered here and thatdidn't happen either.
And so after about six I'msorry, 60 days of searching
online for work and this wasright at the point when
(07:50):
everything was shifting toonline.
So you know, I'm old enough toremember literally typing
letters to apply for jobs.
But by 2005, everything wasmoving online, where you fill
out applications online.
And I was filling out all ofthese applications for jobs,
wasn't hearing anything back,and so I decided you know what,
(08:15):
for the amount of time, effortand energy that I'm spending
looking for a job working forsomeone else, I could spend that
same time, effort and energycreating my own business around
my own skill set.
And that's how my companystarted, equilibria, and it has
evolved and shifted over theyears into what it is today.
(08:37):
So, coming up on 20 years in acouple of months, that's great.
That's great.
That's just congratulationsagain.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So that's thank you, this is a great story and I know
our focus is primarily your TEDTalk.
And then you bring outbeautifully in terms of career
trajectory you have talked aboutyour own, you know, listening
to your inner voice and kind ofmoving out of Louisiana After
(09:07):
exploring New York, you decidedAtlanta is better and you came
here In terms of obscurity,talent suppression and dealing
with it.
How would you say one should goabout it, alicia?
I know I mean, yeah, you, likeI said, the TED Talk is
(09:29):
beautiful.
You just bring all that out.
But just that you and I aretalking in person.
Why don't I have you share yourperspective?
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Sure.
So I think obscurity is one ofthe greatest threats that we
have when we have these talentsor these ideas and we want to
share it with people, andsometimes it's suppressed.
Oftentimes you may find thatyou have great ideas and people
are constantly suppressing thoseideas, and that suppression can
(10:06):
come in a number of ways.
But I want to first point outthat you know, a lot of times we
think we're good at somethingbut we may not really be that
good at it.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Oh, every day is a learning journey, right.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
But, however, the reason why I used the story of
Jimi Hendrix in my TEDx talk isbecause this is a clear example
of someone who had an immenseamount of talent, yet he
suffered with obscurity when hewas performing in the United
States, at least when his careerfirst started.
(10:43):
A lot of times you may besuppressed because of jealousy
or hatred.
People know that you're good atwhat you do and therefore they
want to kind of suppress you,they want to put you down, they
want to put you in thebackground and you remain a best
kept secret, if you will.
Then there are other times whenpeople may actually acknowledge
(11:07):
that you are, my goodness,you're so talented at what you
do.
How do you come up with thesethings?
But yet they won't pay you whatyour talent is actually worth.
And then again there are justall kinds of other factors where
you just keep trying and you'rehitting a brick wall every
(11:29):
single time.
And so that's why I startedthinking about it and I said
well, like Jimi Hendrix,sometimes it requires moving to
a different space and placewhere your talents can be
recognized, and not justrecognized but rewarded
(11:51):
accordingly, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I'm just thinking slightly differently as well,
Just prompts me to ask this as Ijust go over my thoughts Are
self-limiting beliefs in any waycontributing to, say, someone
feeling oh, kind of limitingthemselves and kind of also
(12:18):
feeling is talent suppressionalso arising, perhaps from
self-limiting beliefs?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
also arising perhaps from self-limiting beliefs.
Absolutely Self-limitingbeliefs can start as a result of
constantly being put down,being criticized.
That certainly helps with yourself-limiting beliefs.
And then when you, just youknow, rejection is tough, when
you're constantly being rejected.
And rejection can come inmultiple ways, whether it's a
(12:46):
job application, whether it'syou know, you ask, you do ask
for more money, and that isrejected.
So rejection comes in a varietyof forms and so, again, it can.
It can be very tough to not takethese things personally and to
just conclude well, you knowwhat?
(13:07):
Maybe I'm not that good at it,maybe I don't deserve more,
maybe I should just stay hereand be quiet and just kind of
keep to myself and keep my headdown and continue to suffer and
(13:31):
continue to to suffer.
So so, yes, self-limitingbeliefs are very damaging and
detrimental and and it's allenergy I mean, I don't know if
we can, you know, from ametaphysical perspective, it's,
it's all energy and people.
It's a very dangerous cycle,because you may start off
thinking I'm really good at thisand I know I'm good at it, but
(13:53):
then as people start to, youknow, as you start to deal with
the rejection and thesuppression and constantly being
undervalued, then you start todevelop those self-limiting
beliefs.
Being undervalued, then youstart to develop those
self-limiting beliefs and thenother people start to feed off
of that energy that you'recarrying about yourself and so,
(14:21):
because they sense that you'resuffering from FOMO or you're
suffering from any other form ofself-limiting belief, they just
give you more of what you'restarting to think about yourself
.
So it's a very dangerous viciouscycle and that's why, again,
oftentimes it might mean goingsomewhere different.
Where you're around, differentpeople starting over to get out
(14:43):
of that cycle.
And I understand not everyonecan physically relocate I do
understand that.
But that is the beauty of toolslike Zoom and Microsoft Teams
and Google Meet is that we havethe ability.
Now we have the technologiesthat allow us to put ourselves,
whether remotely or in person,into other places where we can
(15:08):
be around other people.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Exactly.
So how, then, is seeingopportunity important and using
that as a catalyst for growth,because even your case is a
classic example, right?
Speaker 2 (15:24):
Because even your case is a classic example.
Right, opportunity isn't alwayspresented in a safe,
predictable package.
So opportunity usually andagain I'll go back to I'll use
Jimi Hendrix as an example.
Think about it.
Here's this person, thisstruggling musician in the US.
(15:48):
Someone sees him perform atthis very tiny venue in New York
City and offers him anopportunity, but he doesn't know
that it's going to be anopportunity that will literally
change the trajectory of hiscareer.
It's just, you know, sometimeswhen your back is against the
wall, you just say, okay, I'malready as low as I can, get
(16:13):
sure I'll go for it.
So he arrives in London,england, with literally 20 cents
a dime in each of his shoes andthe clothes on his back, and
then within a year he's aphenomenon throughout Europe.
For myself, the opportunity tothe opportunity to sometimes you
(16:42):
create your own opportunities.
For me it was okay, thisintuitive thought get out of New
Orleans, you know, get out, andget out as quickly as you can.
And then, once I arrived inAtlanta, I just started meeting
people and different peoplewould tell me about different
things, whether it be certainnetworking groups or certain
professional organizations thatthey thought I should try out.
(17:03):
I remained open-minded, and Ithink that is the key.
People will throw all kinds ofthings at you.
Not everything will turn out tobe an opportunity, but you go
for it anyway.
Try it out, because you neverknow which one of those things
(17:23):
will actually turn into anopportunity that literally could
change everything.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Yeah, so true.
I think no one can discount thepossibility of any single
connection or any single meeting, because you never know.
That's why I keep emphasizing,even on this very show, learning
is an everyday journey.
You are going to walk out ofthat meeting learning something
(17:52):
which can trigger even your ownthoughts in a different
direction, steer you and helpyou pivot right, and that can
possibly lead to, I think,whatever else.
I wanted to focus next, whichis career acceleration due to
relocation.
Right, so your journey, andthen the example that you bring
out, jimi Hendrix carrieracceleration due to relocation.
(18:18):
What are the prospects that onecan see?
And then again, when is it aptfor someone to even consider
relocation, kind of like thematrix that you bring out.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yes, well, I will certainly say there are things
that could influence whether ornot you just pack up everything
and leave.
Obviously, your age, you know,I was 29, 28, 29 when I made
that decision, so I was a lotyounger and it was easier,
(18:55):
frankly, for me to just kind ofpick up and leave.
But I am mindful of the factthat people have other
responsibilities as well.
You might have your family, youknow, you might have children,
you might have a spouse, so itmay not be that easy to just
leave behind your life ofcomfort and venture into the
(19:16):
unknown.
What I recommend for people nowand this is what I do myself as
well leverage these socialnetworks.
Start joining groups.
I'm not on Facebook, but I amvery active on LinkedIn.
That's how you and I met onLinkedIn.
(19:40):
That's how you and I met.
And if there is a particularcity, if there is a particular
state or a province, if there'sanother country that you keep
reading and hearing about thatparticular place, if you aren't
able to visit that place, startconnecting with people who are
already there and be genuineabout it and say listen, I keep
(20:01):
hearing about Toronto, canada,and I'm hearing all of these
great things about it.
I've been doing my own researchonline.
I've watched videos on YouTubeabout other expats who have
relocated to Toronto and now Iwant to connect be very
intentional about connectingwith other people who are also
(20:25):
in that area.
Would you mind having a Zoomcall with me where I can just
ask you about what it's like todo business there, or what is it
like as a software developer tomove to Toronto?
What is it like to be, you know, a nurse?
Whatever?
Whatever your profession oryour career is, connect with
people first.
Then maybe, if you, if, if yourbudget allows for it, you can
(20:51):
actually arrange to travel tothat place and really get a
sense of what would it be liketo move here, what are the job
prospects?
Could my career flourish here?
And then it's ultimately yourdecision as to whether or not
you decide to physicallyrelocate.
(21:12):
But again, I want to stress toeveryone who's listening to us
or watching us right now we havethe beauty of being able to use
these digital technologieswhere we, you can still.
I can still stay in Atlanta andI can literally network with
people around the world.
The only barrier are our timezone differences.
(21:35):
Sometimes, you know when I'mtalking to people who are in
Singapore or Australia, I haveto be up very, very early in the
morning or really really lateat night, but if you want, the
question we all have to askourselves is how badly do we
want this?
Now, there's one other thing Ishould point out.
(21:58):
There is something to be saidabout in-person, face-to-face
interactions.
I've met so many people justthrough my podcast as you have
as well, vi.
You have listeners in over 100countries.
We meet people from literallyall over the world, and there
are people that I make some ofmy guests, that I've made
(22:19):
fantastic connections with, butit wasn't until I was able to
actually visit with them inperson in some of these
different countries that thingsreally took off, and they took
off very quickly.
So please don't underestimatethe power of connecting in
person.
(22:39):
It is very important.
Nothing beats face-to-faceinteraction.
However, if your finances, yourbudget, just simply don't allow
for that right now, just takecomfort in knowing you still can
develop very good relationshipsworking relationships remotely.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Oh, yes, absolutely.
I think we all have to startsomewhere, and you have given
listeners a great starting point.
So what, then, are the keyattributes?
Or rather, what are theattributes in terms of being
able to identify that hey, okay,this could be my career path.
(23:22):
We talked about opportunity,and then we also need some
advocates, some resources andall of that right.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
Absolutely.
I think of it as a formula.
And you're right First you haveto have the talent, you have to
have a talent.
So this isn't necessarily aboutjust immigrating to another
country for the sake ofimmigrating.
That's not what we're talkingabout resources and the
opportunity and the advocates totake that, to go from idea to
actual implementation, and thenyou might just have, you know,
(24:03):
that pure raw talent.
You're just really good at whatyou do, whether you're an
artist of some sort or, again, asoftware developer or a
business coach, whatever it is.
Whatever your talent is in, youshould have an advocate.
(24:24):
How do you find that advocate?
An advocate can come in anumber of ways, a number of
unexpected ways.
I'm going to share my mentor, astory about my mentor and how
we met.
Her name is Essie Escobedo andshe recently sold her business.
She's now officially retiredand Essie and I met about two.
(24:50):
I think I was here in Atlantafor two years, so I was still
very new to the city.
I was a part of a networkinggroup that was called Power
Corps and we would meet once aweek from seven.
We would meet really early inthe morning, from 7am to 830.
And there was a lady that was apart of my networking group at
(25:14):
that time and she told me thatshe wanted to introduce me to
one of her business colleagues.
I said, okay, sure, again, justbeing open, keeping an open
mind, being open to meeting anyand everyone because I'm still
so new to the city.
Well, that person that shewanted me to meet was Essie, and
(25:36):
I'll never forget it.
We met at a restaurant for lunchand Essie just took a liking to
me.
She really took me under herwing.
She started to mentor me.
I didn't ask her.
She saw something in me that,truthfully, I didn't even see in
(25:57):
myself.
Who would have thought thatthis random lunch meeting would
have evolved into what has nowturned into gosh, like an
18-year friendship?
I call her my fairy godmother.
I call her my fairy godmother.
Rightfully so.
(26:17):
Yes, once she started spendingmore time around me and asking
me questions and learning moreabout what I could do, she
started to tell as many peopleas she could and I never asked
her to so she was and is a trueadvocate.
(26:40):
This is someone where you don'thave to beg them to help you.
They already see it in you.
They already see your raw,untapped talent, and that
advocate may very well also beplugged into the resources that
are required to take your talentfrom obscurity to the world,
(27:04):
knowing who you are.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Well, that's powerful .
That's powerful.
I was actually going to addeven earlier, when you mentioned
set up Zoom calls, you know,even if the location is not
reachable, just so, and requestthat hey, I would like to know
more information, and so on andso forth, I was definitely going
(27:27):
to say, yeah, that could verywell turn into a mentor for you.
So what starts as a regularconnection could end up being
much more than that, right?
Speaker 2 (27:39):
So I have another story, if I may just share this
really quickly.
So I have been teaching a LeanSix Sigma course at Purdue
University going up into myfourth year now.
I'm going up into my fourthyear now and, by the way, that
(28:13):
opportunity came when I wastaking my studies to become
certified as a Lean Six SigmaBlack Belt one of my instructors
.
He was a phenomenal instructor.
He is a phenomenal instructorand he would always make himself
available to his students bysaying and keep in mind, this
was completely remote, 100%remote online learning and he
would often offer to us, asstudents, the opportunity to get
(28:35):
on a phone call with him totalk through if we were having
difficulty with a particulartopic or we just needed to
brainstorm on some things, youknow, for a particular
assignment.
Well, john and I remained intouch even after I had taken my
course, about 10 years later.
(28:57):
Keep this in mind.
10 years later, john contactedme and he said Alicia Purdue is
looking for another Lean SixSigma instructor.
Are you interested?
Because if you say yes, all youhave to do is say yes.
(29:17):
I've already told them aboutyou.
Here's another advocate whopresented an opportunity and the
resources.
Everything was already lined up.
All I had to do was say yes.
I didn't have to sell myself tothese folks.
I didn't have to tell themabout my credentials.
He had already advocated for me.
(29:40):
It was literally a matter of usgetting on a Zoom call and them
asking are you interested?
And I said yes.
I would have never imagined thatI would become an instructor,
but now here I am and Iabsolutely love it.
And that would never havehappened had I not maintained
(30:02):
that relationship with him,constantly letting him know what
I was working on.
He's watching everything I'mdoing and you know what's funny?
Vi, john and I, it's been now12 or 13 years that we've known
each other.
We still have never met inperson.
He lives in California, I'm inGeorgia.
(30:23):
Wow, we have never met.
We have never met.
So it is possible.
Everyone.
I'm telling you the other greatthing about social media
whichever platform you usewhether it's TikTok, facebook,
(30:43):
instagram, linkedin showcaseyour work, showcase your talent
so that people can see you andthey're watching you.
You never know who is watchingyou, who's listening to you on
your podcast or on YouTube, andwhen that moment comes, you
(31:06):
might have advocates out therethat you don't even know exist,
but when they hear about anopportunity, that advocate will
show up in your life and say Vi,I know you don't know me, but
I've been watching you for thepast five years on YouTube and I
(31:27):
think this would be a greatopportunity for you.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
That's how it happens Right, there are the outcomes
right the reward, therecognition and the respect.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Absolutely, yeah, and it's tough to keep going when
you aren't sure that people areeven paying attention.
Is anybody listening?
Does anybody see me?
Because, again, you're inobscurity, right, and so that's
(32:00):
that's why these differentsocial platforms that's how it
can be used for good is to toshow what you can do and how it
is of value.
It's of value to someone outthere.
You just have to keep showingup.
But as long as we allow thoseself-limiting beliefs that you
were talking about earlier, aslong as we allow those
(32:23):
self-limiting beliefs to to grip, to have a grip on us, no one
will know about us.
Speaker 1 (32:32):
Yeah, so we have to show up as well, and being
authentic is important right.
Show up authentically.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
People will, especially with the
proliferation of AI.
You must have your own voice.
I think people like us, whohave original thought, original
ideas, original, creative waysof doing our work, we are going
(33:01):
to become a rare.
We're going to become like arare, precious gem, because more
and more people are relying onAI and you can tell when they're
using it.
You can tell it's not their ownvoice, it's not their own words
and they may have anopportunity presented to them
and then they can't performbecause they've been relying on
(33:24):
machinery to do things for them,to think things for them.
Have original thought.
Don't be afraid to be creative.
Use AI as an assistant, butdon't use it to replace your
voice.
Speaker 1 (33:40):
Yeah, yeah, couldn't have said that any better in
terms of showing upauthentically.
And it's also important not toget lost in the process, right?
You just cannot think, oh, mycareer trajectory is not good, I
just want to go upwards, andupwards, and upwards, and so
maybe I'll pick up and move.
(34:02):
That's just not the solution.
That's not what we are talkingabout.
Right?
You need some parameters First.
You need some talent.
And when we say talent, we arenot saying, oh, you just have to
be outrageously special, youjust have to have some
experience, you have to havesome backing to qualify what you
(34:27):
can do or demonstrate what youcan do, right?
So how do you think typicallypeople get lost in the process
and how can someone just makesure that they kind of foolproof
that situation?
Speaker 2 (34:47):
I don't know if it can be foolproofed 100 percent,
but Sometimes this is going tosound really odd, but it's the
truth.
It's what I've found to be true.
Whenever you are getting closerand closer to a breakthrough,
(35:08):
don't be surprised if bad thingsstart happening.
Different challenges, differentobstacles it's merely a test.
It's a test to understand howbadly do you want this?
Because if you want it badly,anything worth having is worth
(35:30):
fighting for.
It is worth fighting for and ifyou can get onto the other side
of that, I guarantee you itwould have all been worth it.
I'll share another example, justgiving a TEDx talk.
This is something I've wantedto do and I have pursued
(35:52):
actively for five years by over150 rejected applications.
So we were talking aboutrejections, right?
I came close to being on thestage twice during COVID Twice.
Both times the event organizerscanceled the event.
(36:15):
The first time it was canceledtwo weeks before the event was
supposed to take place and thesecond time it was canceled two
months before the event wassupposed to take place.
Now, I don't know if peoplelistening to this realize it,
but there is a lot of work thatgoes into preparing for your
TEDx talk.
(36:35):
There were multiple rehearsals.
We're practicing every singleSaturday on a Zoom call.
We're getting together andpracticing and then to hear all
of a sudden that it's justcanceled.
That's hard, it's heartbreaking.
Oh, of course, of course, yes.
So I got very, very, verydiscouraged and I spent 2023, I
(37:04):
just said I don't want to lookat, I don't even want to hear
the word Ted, I'm over this,it's not supposed to happen.
And then, at the beginning of oftwenty twenty four, I said you
know what?
I need to change my perspective.
I need to think about thisdifferently.
There's, I suspect, thatBecause I have three, I have, I
(37:32):
have three different ideas thatI was shopping around and I told
my assistant.
I said wouldn't it be funnythat the one that I'm referring
to as the Jimmy effect, thepositive effects of relocation
on your career wouldn't it befunny if I actually ended up
(37:54):
giving that talk outside of theUS?
We started shopping that ideaaround to different TEDx
franchises throughout the US,kept getting rejected, rejected,
rejected, rejected.
I finally told my assistantthis was last.
This was in April, I'm sorry,may of 2024.
(38:16):
I said okay, we need to gooutside of the US.
Let's start applying outside ofthe US.
Vi, I kid you, not within 48hours.
I was accepted in Helsinki,finland of all places, to talk
(38:37):
about the Jimmy effect.
And it was just.
We laughed, my assistant and I.
We laugh about this all thetime because five years.
And then I finally said let'stry something different, let's
(39:00):
go outside of the U?
S?
And, sure enough, the idea waspicked up right away.
So, um and so, getting back tothe question about it being
foolproof, the bad, theobstacles I don't want to say
the bad things, the obstaclesand the challenges will happen.
(39:24):
Something else that happenedright before the TEDx event
happened, which was in October2024, was the date, the day that
the that I was able to deliverthis talk.
I was a victim of a major bankscam that completely depleted my
business's bank account and thebank did not want to give me my
(39:47):
money back.
So I had all I had a lot ofobstacles going on in the
background, that's not an easysituation.
Leading up to giving this talk.
But I still got on the stage, Istill flew across the Atlantic
Ocean to deliver that talk andthen, when I came back to the US
(40:09):
, I was finally able to resolvethat issue.
So I just want to encouragethose who are listening to me,
because I don't want to tellthis story and make it all seem
like, oh, everything justhappened and it was lovely, and
my life completely changed andit was great and I met all the
(40:30):
people that I needed to meet andthey helped me and they no, no,
no, no, no.
There were a lot of obstacles.
In fact, when I the day that Imoved from New Orleans to
Atlanta, I was served papers.
I was being sued by a tenant Iused to rent out part of my home
and the former tenant I wasserved papers, I was sued and I
(40:55):
had to come back to New Orleansabout two months after I moved
to appear in court and the casewas dismissed because it was
bogus.
But that happened Literally.
We were loading up the truckand I was served with papers.
We were loading up the truckand I was served with papers.
(41:19):
So, again, some people, if thathappened to them, they would
have been like oh my God, see,this is a sign that I should not
, I need to stay here, I need tostay in my little box.
This is a sign.
But see, I interpreted theopposite way, like, no, this is
resistance and I'm going to pushthrough this because resistance
builds muscle.
Okay, you don't get to have big, bulky muscles without
(41:44):
resisting against weight.
So, metaphorically, the samehappens for us in life.
It's not a bed of roses.
It's not always a straight,narrow path.
We can plan all day, every day,and it means nothing.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (42:07):
So we talk about critiques, who can remain your
roadblock.
There can be resistance inother forms, like you mentioned,
but once you have the talent,basically the experience, you
just need to explore, bring upyour authentic self.
So there is people noticing.
(42:28):
There are people noticing allthe time, and so showing up
authentically leads to someoneeven advocating, just like you
said, and that brings moreopportunity knocking on your
door.
And definitely, withopportunity and all the
resources that you can tap intoto just execute that
(42:48):
successfully, comes reward andrecognition and the result that
you are hoping for couldn't havebrought out any better.
That's just beautiful.
And what about the sciencebehind increased self-worth and
the positive impact that it canhave on one's well-being?
(43:08):
Mental health is such a hugeparameter these days and
everyone is like super stressedat work and whatnot.
So the science behind increasedself-worth, alicia.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
Yes, there have been scientific studies and you know,
keep in mind, I'm by no means aneuroscientist, but I have read
several studies that talk aboutthe positive effects of
relocation and, honestly, vi itcould be something as simple as
taking a walk in the park, goingsomewhere different, having a
(43:46):
change of scenery, a change inenvironment.
How many times have you beenstuck trying to think of a
solution or figure your way outof something, whether it's the
problem you're trying to solvein your business, in your career
, at work, personally, and ifyou just go to a park and you
(44:08):
walk around and you're outside,you're in nature, and you walk
around a little bit and you feelrefreshed and all of a sudden
the answer may come to you, butas long as you're in it, in that
same environment, you're stuck.
So there are all kinds ofneuroscience studies that have
(44:33):
explored not only whatrelocation can do for you, the
positive effects, because therecan be some negative effects of
relocation, especially if yourelocate against your will.
But if you are willinglyrelocating, there are amiss
benefits, because you have thebenefit not only of exploring a
(44:53):
new environment.
It's like discovering newthings, the joy that comes with
exploring new neighborhoods,exploring new places to eat, new
places to drink coffee or tea,new places to meet friends,
potential new friends.
(45:16):
So all of those feelings canwork to your benefit, so that it
serves as positiveenvironmental stimuli if you are
away from friends and family,because, as much as your friends
(45:40):
and family may love you, theyalso may be trying to keep you
close because they're fearfulfor you.
They love you, but they arefearful that you won't be able
to succeed and they want to keepyou where you are.
When you are away from friendsand family, you have no choice
(46:01):
but to rely on yourself, on yourtalent, and again, you don't
have the distractions that alsocan come along with certain
friends and family members aswell.
So I'm not advocating that youshouldn't be around your family.
I want to be very clear aboutthat.
(46:21):
But these are some of thereasons why people are sometimes
able to have their careersaccelerate when they move away
from familiar surroundings andfamiliar situations.
It's because they realize Ihave no one to depend on or no
(46:42):
one to rely on but myself, and Idon't have certain distractions
either, so I can really focuson honing my talent and getting
it out there for others to seeand experience.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
And you're kind of getting out of your comfort zone
, right?
You know, moving to a new place, you're trying to get
comfortable doing theuncomfortable.
I always, you know, love sayingthat as well, and it's a
personal mantra for me too.
How else does success look likefrom relocation?
(47:16):
You kind of gave us a fewpointers here, but overall, how
can success look like fromrelocation?
Speaker 2 (47:25):
So I'll give a more general, my general view on
success.
I view success as being able towake up every day doing work
that you love on your terms andyou're able to financially
sustain yourself.
For me it's not about anumerical figure oh, if I make
(47:52):
$3.5 million every year, that'ssuccess for me.
But success looks different forall of us.
For me it's I am blessed to beable to do work that I truly
love, where I am adding value toother people and their
businesses, creatingopportunities for others, and I
(48:17):
can go to bed at night with aclear conscious knowing that I
did the absolute best that Icould do given a certain
situation.
That is success to me and itjust keeps you know you pay it
forward and it just keeps youknow you pay it forward.
Speaker 1 (48:46):
So, yes, and relocation can very much be a
part of that, to kind of triggerthat success happening in your
life.
Yeah, that's again.
You know.
Your definition of successcertainly resonates a lot with
me.
I truly believe that one shouldpursue their passion, and as
long as, yes, we all need to putbread and butter on the table,
so we just need to sustainourselves in terms of being able
(49:09):
to eat and fund ourselvesfinancially.
But to the extent that we areable to meet our goals and and
be self-sufficient, and I thinksuccess definitely comes from
truly nurturing your passion,and and seeing that you can put
(49:29):
a smile on somebody else's faceby helping them out is, I think,
it's much more of asatisfaction and I think that
truly defines what success means, right?
Because as long as you can tapinto your creativity, use your
determination and show upauthentically, I think there's
(49:53):
there's just no better feelingthan that.
That's just me.
What do you think, alicia?
Speaker 2 (49:58):
I agree with you.
I look at some people whoothers may say, yes, they're
successful, again based on theamount of money that they make,
the type of house that they livein, the type of car that they
drive, and a lot of those peopleare miserable that they drive,
and a lot of those people aremiserable, they're miserable.
(50:18):
There are people who work longhours because they have to, and
they're miserable.
Then there are those of us whoare working long hours but it
doesn't even feel like it's alot of hours because we're truly
doing what we love.
It doesn't even really feellike work.
(50:42):
In the building where my officeis, one of my office mates
called me this morning and hesaid it's dark outside.
I can see the light on in youroffice because there's glass
everywhere, as you can see herebehind me.
But it was funny because he wasdriving past the building and
he called me and he said it'sseven o'clock in the morning.
(51:06):
What are you doing over there?
It's still dark outside and Iwas like, hey, man, the early
bird gets the worm right, but itdoesn't feel like it, doesn't?
People often talk about thehours that I work, but it truly
doesn't feel like work because Ican just be doing something and
(51:28):
before I know it's five hours,five hours have passed.
But I'm doing it out of thepassion that you were just
talking about and the the, thejoy that comes as a result of
being able to work, and I I dorecognize the blessing in being
(51:48):
able to do work that you love onyour terms, because so many
people, there's so many peoplewho can't say that.
So I I recognize how fortunateI am and I absolutely do not
take that for granted at allmm-hmm and just um.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
A note for the benefit of Janseys who are just
in their initial stages incareer or who are just about
embarking on their careertrajectory.
We have kind of talked aboutpeople in careers if they are
stuck as to what measures theycan take and so on and so forth.
(52:33):
But what about any other tools,resources, any other tips that
you would offer Alicia, in termsof people that are just getting
started with?
Speaker 2 (52:47):
their career?
And thank you for this questionbecause I'm troubled by and not
to paint a group with a broadstroke.
I don't want to do thatregarding the Gen Z population,
(53:23):
because there's a certainsensitivity that many of them
have that makes them unable todeal with adversity, to deal
with the extreme rejection.
You know they've grown up in aculture where everyone receives
a trophy, but you and I didn'tgrow up in a culture like that,
(53:44):
and so my heart goes out to thembecause when rejection comes,
it can sting in a very damagingway for them, like oh, you
didn't place.
You didn't win first, second orthird place at the science fair
.
You know you didn't place atall.
(54:08):
I highly recommend watchingdocumentaries.
I'm not going to suggestreading books, because I know so
many people don't read booksnow, especially that generation
but watch documentaries ofpeople that you admire, whether
they are musicians, businesspeople, people in your community
(54:30):
, if they're famous enough.
People in your community, ifthey're famous enough and
there's something that you canwatch.
Go onto YouTube, search forthese people and type the word
documentary.
After you type in their name.
I guarantee you this is whatyou're going to find.
You're going to find stories oftragedy as well as the triumph,
(54:53):
you're going to hear theobstacles, the challenges, the
turmoil that people had to gothrough in order to get to where
they are today, whatever theircareer might be in.
I personally love reading andhearing about and learning about
(55:14):
the stories of other successfulentrepreneurs, business people.
I often look at all titans ofany industry, whether it be
fashion or food or media science.
I just love learning about thejourneys of other people and I
(55:39):
guarantee you, not once have Iread the story of anyone who has
had a path that has beenstraight and narrow and just
full of joy and lollipops andrainbows and teddy bears along
the way.
That's just not how life works.
So I think if Gen Z can learnfrom the stories of people that
(56:04):
they already admire, it's goingto help them put their own lives
and situations they may begoing through into better
perspective.
Speaker 1 (56:33):
Oh, yeah, I strongly believe.
Yeah, it kind of help them seewhat we all have experienced in
terms of just a casual sharingof life incidents and stories in
a just a casual conversationand very friendly way.
(56:56):
That will help them becausethey are willing to listen.
I definitely find that they arewilling to listen.
It's not that they want to beon social media 100% of the time
.
They do want conversation.
I think it's also up to therest of us to be able to engage
(57:18):
them in a way that they want tosee themselves engaged.
I think they want to be seen,heard, and if we give them an
opportunity to do that, I thinkdefinitely we can achieve common
medium in terms of okay, withthem being able to listen to us
more.
So I think they just expect usto meet them at a certain place
(57:39):
and if we are able to, I thinkthere's room for a lot more
productive conversations and alot more productivity.
I don't think I can finish thisconversation without talking
about the fast growthpredicament.
That's the reason your bookcame out and the name of the
(58:00):
book.
Let me just have you talk aboutthat and the Casano methodology
and its impact on smallbusinesses.
So, behind the facade how tostructure company operations for
sustainable success.
That's just again like anAmazon bestseller.
So the forum is yours, alicia.
Speaker 2 (58:19):
Oh, thank you.
Thank you so much formentioning the book, and it's
funny because I'm activelyworking with someone now to
rebrand the book, and part ofthat is changing the title so
that it's easier to find for thepeople who are looking for
those types of solutions.
(58:40):
But just quickly, it is a bookbased on a framework that I've
developed over years of workingwith so many entrepreneurs in
different industries, and theframework, as you mentioned, is
called Ka-Sinu and, just alittle fun fact here, I'm a
student of ancient civilizations.
(59:01):
That is something that I'mpassionate about, and so ancient
Egypt is one of thosecivilizations that I have
studied quite a bit about.
So Ka is an ancient Egyptianword that means spirit, and then
sinu is an ancient Egyptianword that means like twin or
clone or similar.
(59:24):
So the idea is to figure outwhat is it that makes your
business so special, what is itthat core talent again, that
you've built your businessaround, and how do we replicate
the spirit or the essence ofthat?
So that's why I refer to it asthe Casino framework, or
(59:44):
methodology, and the book that Iwrote is teaching this
methodology, but it's doing itin the form of stories.
So these are six differentstories that chronicle the lives
of entrepreneurs who run allkinds of different types of
businesses.
One is a non-profit, one is afood distribution company,
(01:00:08):
another is a furniture store.
So there's a little bit ofsomething in there for any
business owner.
But the idea was to not teachthe information in a dry, boring
fashion, but to teach it in theform of storytelling.
So that's what the book isabout, and again, it's really
(01:00:31):
it's part textbook, part novel,if you will.
So it's a more entertaining wayof delivering information about
how to truly build businessinfrastructure in your
organization.
Speaker 1 (01:00:45):
Well, awesome, a fascinating conversation.
I think we took listeners fromhow you know they can identify
their talent with someexperience that they have, how
best they can leverage, seeingopportunity that lies ahead of
them, make use of the mentorsand the resources all the tools
(01:01:09):
that that that's you knowavailable in plenty these days,
building a network so much moreand ultimately getting paid
their worth or getting rewarded,recognized, respected for what
they do.
We also delve deep into whattruly success looks like and how
(01:01:30):
to nurture creativity anddetermination.
Such a fascinating conversationand I'm really thrilled to have
sat down and had this chat withyou, alicia.
If there's anything else thatyou would like to add, your
social media, any contactinformation, the forum is yours.
Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
Oh, thank you.
I again.
I'm very active on LinkedIn, soI encourage anyone who's
listening.
If you'd love, if you'd like tostay connected, I am accessible
.
I would love to connect withyou.
Please send me a direct messageOnce we do connect on LinkedIn.
You can find me at AliciaButler Pierre.
(01:02:10):
I also have a website by thesame name, aliciabutlerpierrecom
, and then there's my company'swebsite, which is eqbsystemscom.
Awesome, Thank you, Awesome.
Speaker 1 (01:02:26):
Listeners as always.
Follow the podcast.
Read the podcast.
Leave a review from yourpodcast app of choice podcast.
Leave a review from yourpodcast app of choice.
Follow me on Instagram andYouTube.
In fact, this video and so manyother podcast videos are
available on the YouTube channelat vaipkumar, that's
(01:02:47):
V-A-I-P-K-U-M-A-R, and you canfind me on Substack as well,
where I post articles and somuch more.
Until next time with yetanother interesting guest and
yet another interesting topic.
It's me, vai and Alicia, sayingso long.
Thank you.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!